PIER PAOLO PASOLINI. THE AESTHETIC UNIVERSE. AND

THE EXTRAORDINARILY

SUPER LURID BOOK FROM

1984. A LIFE IN FILM THAT

WAS COLOURFUL AND CONTROVERSIAL IN EQUAL MEASURE AND ENDED, TRAGICALLY, IN BRUTAL BLOODY MURDER.

Pasolini paints the cover of this over-saturated superbook. The printer has lost control of the colours on this classic cover. The actor / director looks like he's stepped into The Deer Hunter. And it's easy to see why Willem Dafoe played him in the Abel Ferrara movie. The book was published alongside an exhibition in Paris in 1984 - a decade after Pasolini died (at the hands of a rightwing extremist and / or the mafia) in 1975. The book is almost as graphic.

A full page of great beauty. A still from the film Arabian Nights (1974).

Well-placed hand does wonders for toning the abs. Angelo Pennoni's on-set photograph - also from Arabian Nights.

From Porcile (Pigsty), the young cannibal played by Pierre Clémenti is not far off delivering the only spoken words of this section of the film: "I killed my father, I ate human flesh and I quiver with joy." It's not A Room With A View that's for sure.

Back to Arabian Nights and, damn, they are giving good fashion. The colour illustrations in this book are so much fun!

Speaking of fun... This still from Pasolini's final film The 120 Days of Sodom. In May 2006, Time Out's Film Guide named it the "Most Controversial Film" of all time. Looks kind of cute to us. Time Out should get out more.

And finally, in fitting tribute to a legend, Pier Paolo playing soccer. He was an avid fan of Bologna and whilst far too intellectual, poetic and handsome to play professionally, appears to have laced up his boots as often as possible.